When you think of a fresh haircut, the first thing that comes to mind is probably a tidy trash bin. Yet, there are 10 weird ways people have taken those stray strands and turned them into something truly unexpected. From avant‑garde furniture to eco‑friendly oil‑spillage solutions, human hair has proven to be a surprisingly versatile material.
Explore 10 Weird Ways Human Hair Is Put to Use
10 Hair Chair
Human hair boasts a tensile strength that actually outperforms fiberglass, and one inventive entrepreneur decided to harness that power for a functional piece of décor. Ronald Thompson, a former celebrity hair‑stylist turned designer, fabricated the “Stiletto Chair” primarily from reclaimed salon hair he collected across London barbershops.
The prototype incorporates roughly two kilograms (about 4.5 lb) of hair, which Thompson touts as a sustainable alternative to conventional composites. He argues that hair is waterproof, non‑conductive, corrosion‑free, fire‑resistant, and remarkably durable—attributes that let it rival medium‑density fiberboard, fiberglass, polymers, and even aluminum.
Bronze‑coated and priced at $15,000, the chair currently sits in the luxury market, though Thompson hopes future iterations will be more affordable for broader audiences.
9 Jewelry
In the Victorian era, mourning rituals took a uniquely personal turn: people crafted jewelry from the hair of departed loved ones. Queen Victoria herself wore a locket containing Prince Albert’s hair, and countless brooches and pendants featured woven strands as a tangible reminder of the deceased.
These hair‑laden adornments weren’t limited to memorializing the dead; they also symbolized deep bonds with living friends, children, or spouses. Today, Leila’s Hair Museum in Missouri showcases over 2,000 such pieces, each often engraved with the donor’s name, birthdate, and death date.
The museum, the world’s sole hair‑focused institution, preserves these intimate artifacts, offering a glimpse into a bygone fashion that blended sentimentality with style.
8 Soy Sauce
A Chinese firm ventured into the culinary world by marketing a protein‑rich powder and liquid derived from human hair as a novel soy‑sauce ingredient. The company highlighted that hair, like soybeans, wheat, and bran, contains ample amino acids suitable for fermentation.
Workers harvested unwashed hair directly from bulk bags, processed it without prior cleaning, and shipped the resulting product to soy‑sauce manufacturers nationwide. Health regulators, however, warned that human hair can carry lead and arsenic, posing serious risks to liver, kidney, and blood health, and potentially even triggering cancer.
7 Helps To Grow Food
Human hair doubles as an organic fertilizer and a weed‑preventing barrier. Smart Grow, founded by former hairstylist Phil McCrory, fashions hair into mats that sit at a plant’s base to boost growth, while also serving as a surface‑level deterrent against unwanted weeds.
McCrory’s inspiration sprang from the sheer volume of hair he collected while sweeping salons. Though the concept feels modern, ancient Chinese farmers historically mixed hair and manure into the soil to improve yields.
6 Incense
Burning hair isn’t exactly aromatic, but ancient Indian rituals did incorporate human hair into incense blends. By mixing strands with ginger, fragrant leaves, or aromatic gums, practitioners created scents meant to appease demons and spirits when they acted out of favor.
Another, far less pleasant concoction combined hair with pig manure, producing a stench so foul that it was believed to drive malevolent entities away.
5 Pest Control
For centuries, gardeners across the United States, India, and China have turned to human hair as a natural pest barrier. When packed into cheesecloth or nylon pouches and hung near vulnerable plants, the hair repels snails, rodents, rabbits, and deer.
The scent fades after about two weeks, so the bags need regular replacement. Some growers even blend pet hair with human hair for added efficacy, offering a cheap, low‑tech method to protect crops.
4 Clothing
Hair may sound itchy, but it has found its way into fashion. Barber Bill Black harvested strands from his customers to craft a range of garments, including a B‑cup‑sized bikini, penny loafers, underwear, hats, shirts, and vests.
Black’s wife tried on the bikini and promptly complained about the itchiness—no surprise given the material. A more controversial endeavor came from Sarah Louise Bryan, who spent six months stitching pubic hair onto a steel framework to produce a top and skirt, pricing the set at roughly $13,000.
Bryan sterilized the hair and used hot water to eliminate bacteria before gluing it onto the fabric, ensuring the final pieces were as safe as they were shocking.
3 Clean Up Oil Spills
Phil McCrory, the same mind behind the hair fertilizer mat, also devised a clever oil‑spill cleanup method. Inspired by an otter whose fur soaked up oil after the 1989 Alaska spill, McCrory wondered if human hair could perform similarly.
He packed 2.2 kg (5 lb) of hair into a pair of pantyhose, tied the ends together to form a loop, and dropped motor oil into a wading pool. The hair adsorbed the oil, forming distinct layers that could be easily removed and reclaimed.
NASA later tested the technique under controlled conditions, confirming that a single hair‑filled ring could soak up four liters (one gallon) of oil in under two minutes, offering a cost‑effective alternative for environmental remediation.
2 Work Of Art
Beyond personal keepsakes, human hair has served as a medium for large‑scale artistic expression. At Dartmouth College’s Baker‑Berry Library, a colossal banner spanning 24 m by 4 m (80 ft × 13 ft) was woven from 190 kg (420 lb) of hair collected from 42,000 haircuts.
The project, titled “green house,” featured green lettering symbolizing the intertwining of money and education, and highlighted how everyday waste can be transformed into a striking visual statement.
1 Musical Instruments
Among the Mangyan peoples of Mindoro, Philippines, the traditional three‑stringed violin known as the gitgit uses human hair for its strings. Historically, a male suitor would play the instrument to announce his arrival at a potential lover’s home.
In contemporary experimental music, artist Tadas Maksimovas pushes the boundary further by attaching his own waist‑long hair—still attached to his scalp—to a violin’s tuning pegs, creating a living, vibrating string.
During performances, musician Eimantas Belickas draws his bow across the hair‑filled instrument, producing an otherworldly timbre. After the show, Maksimovas sacrifices the length of his hair, underscoring the personal commitment behind the art.
Curious about more hair‑centric creations? Visit the author’s site at www.MDavidScott.com for additional insights.